Belatedness 2
It has been a while. Again. Oh well. So is the nature of this blog.
As I haven’t had a post in more than a month (partially due to the fact that I’ve been busy with classes), I might as well fill you all in on what’s been happening.
Mostly I’ve been busy. Not terribly busy, but busy none the less. I find that I have a lot of reading to do this term. I listed my classes in my last post, but I’ll list them again: organic chemistry, biochemistry (BI 214), a class on early Judaism (the midterm was yesterday), and a reading class including all of us who are going to Ecuador in the spring. Basically, I have a lot of required reading for the Judaism class, which I have basically neglected to do the majority of, and so far a lot of reading for the reading class (really good books, though). We read a book called Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South America, which is chock full of all sorts of awesome and interesting facts and observations. I really recommend it if you are a biology geek to any extent. We also just finished a book called Savages, which follows the travels and experiences of Joe Kane (the author) in his interactions with the natives of the Ecuadorean rain forests, specifically the Huaorani (now spelled Waorani), and also the impact of big oil on their way of life. It, too, is a great book and I’d recommend it.
The nice thing about my other classes (biochem and organic chem) is that they don’t actually have any required homework, which kind of has been a blessing and a curse. A blessing since I would definitely not be able to get all the work done and a curse because it leaves me less prepared and knowledgeable about the material. Surprisingly, this hasn’t been much of a problem in organic chemistry (exam on Wednesday went well, I believe), but has had more of an impact on my knowledge of the biochem material. It may also have to do with the fact that I have biochem at 9:00 in the morning.
Luckily my courseload isn’t bad at all, but I still have less time than normal. Part of this is because I’ve started practicing with the U of O ultimate team on Mondays and Wednesdays, and even went to a tournament with them last weekend. Unfortunately, I seem to have tweaked my lower back (it seems to happen occasionally), so I was completely unable to play the second day. It’s gotten better over the past couple days and I’m planning on seeing a physical therapist next week to make sure it isn’t anything major.
All of these activities seem to leave me with not a whole lot of time during the week (oh, yeah, I’m also taking a time management class until next week) which leaves me with less time at work, which is annoying. It isn’t fun to only work eight hours a week and see your paycheck amount to about half of last month’s.
Life around the house has been pretty good, although almost everyone is really busy getting ready for the conference they are putting together, which you can check out at their website. I really respect and admire what they are doing and I hope it helps make a difference. During the actual conference, though, I may be hiding away at a friends apartment so that I don’t go crazy with all the people around (we are hosting a bunch of people in the house). I really need to clean my room before that happens, too.
Finally, I am planning on actually purchasing my plane tickets to and from Ecuador tomorrow. I will be leaving on March 28th and have decided to stay about a month past when the program ends to get back in early July. As I’ve mentioned, this scares the heck out of me, but I know it will be good for me and that I can only benefit from it.
More to come later, as always.
On another note, I bought myself a Dvorak keyboard cover so that I can practice it. It definitely a good investment since I am enjoying not getting any crumbs or anything into my keys either. Now, to get on to actually using the layout…
Music:
Millionaire – Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack
Blackbird – Across the Universe soundtrack
Bomb the World – Michael Franti & Spearhead
Bukowski – Modest Mouse
New World Rising – Evan Hazen Kimble
Know Your Onion! – The Shins
I Will Possess Your Heart – Death Cab For Cutie
Getting Better – The Beatles
There’ll Come A Time – The John Butler Trio
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer – The Beatles
Because – Across the Universe soundtrack
We Used To Be Friends – The Dandy Warhols
Be My Escape – Reliant K
Disconnected – Funkstörung & Enik
